Golf tee



Feb. 14, 1939.

J. A. HAMMOND El' AL GOLF TEE Filed April 4,A 1936 Patented Feb. 14, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 4 Claims.

This invention relates to golf tees and particularly to tees having a base portion insertable in the ground and a ball-supporting portion attached to the base portion and normally in upright, ball-supporting position but readily movable out of said position without displacement of the base portion.

Objects of the invention are, in a tee of said class, to provide an approximately stream-lined tee substantially devoid of projections or irregular surfaces which would tend to engage the head of the club and damage the same and dislodge the base portion; to provide a ball-supporting portion which is normally held upright in ballsupporting position, by readily yieldable means; to provide a ball-supporting portion which may be swung in either of two opposite directions to a position substantially at right angles to said normal position; to provide a cushion for pre- 29 venting damage to the club head and to the tee should the former strike the latter; to combine said features into a single, symmetrical, substantial, efficient and inexpensive unitary device.

With these and other objects in View, all of which will more fully hereinafter appear, the invention comprises certain novel constructions, combinations and arrangements of parts which will be hereinafter described and claimed and which are illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which like characters of reference indicate corresponding parts throughout and in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the tee in normal position, illustrating in dotted lines 2 opposite positions to which the ball-supporting portion may be swung.

Fig. 2 is either a front or back elevation of the tee illustrated in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a section on line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary section on line 4-4 of Fig. l.

I n the preferable embodiment illustrated in the accompanying drawing the tee comprises a base portion adapted to be inserted in the ground and here illustrated as a peg I having ears 2 spaced to receive therebetween an ear 3 carried on the lower end of shaft 4 of the ball-supporting portion.

The shaft 4 carries the ball cup 5 on its upper end and is preferably provided with a collar 6 near its lower end, the shaft 4 between the cup 5 and the collar 6 being surrounded by a cushion 'I which may be of rubber or other suitable material, the surface of which may be in alignment with the collar 6 at the lower end but which extends beyond the periphery of the ball cup 5 as at 8, whereby contact between the head of the club and the hard material of the ballcup is substantially prevented.

The ears 2 and 3 are provided with a pin 9 whereby ball-supporting portion is pivotally mounted in the upper end of the peg I and may swing in either direction upon such pivotal mounting, as illustrated in Fig. l.

The peg is hollowed as clearly illustrated at 10 Fig. 3 and in the hollow there is seated a coil spring I0 resiliently supporting a plunger II, the upper end of which normally extends into the space between the ears 2. This upper end of the plunger Il is rounded and a corresponding 15 depression is formed in the bottom of the ear 3, all as clearly illustrated at I2 in Figs. 3 and 4, whereby when the ball-supporting portion is upright the head of the plunger II fits into the depression in the bottom of the ear 3 and holds 20 the ball-supporting portion in alignment with the peg but by reason of the spring I0 and the rounded interconnection between the head of the plunger II and the depression in the ear 3, any slight side pressure on the ball-supporting por- 25 tion will tip said portion in the direction in which the pressure is exerted instead of resisting the pressure, so that when the ball-supporting portion is accidentally hit by the club head it will swing to one `of the dotted line positions indi- 30 cated in Fig. l and will neither damage the head of the club nor displace the peg I.

It will be noted that there are no sharp projections on any portion of the tee and that the same is generally stream-lined so that it would 35.

be difficult, if not impossible, for the head of the club to so engage any portion of the tee as to either displace the peg I or damage either the tee 4or the head of the club.

The lines of division between the ears 2 and 40 the ear 3 are clearly iixable as shown in Fig. 2 and this furnishes a ready guide in positioning the tee in such a way that the tipping of the ball-supporting portion of the tee will be in line with the stroke of the club. No other indicating 45 means for the positioning of the tee will be necessary.

It is evident that if the club contacts the tee at all it will Contact the cushion 1, thus preventing damage to the head of the club, and also 50 preventing damage to the tee, and such a contact will obviously cause the ball-supporting portion of the tee to swing to one side as indicated in Fig. 1, instead of displacing the peg I.

Modifications and changes in the details of 55 construction will occur to those skilled in the art, within the scope of the appended claims. The drawing is illustrative only and we do not wish to be limited to the structural details as illustrated.

We claim:

1; A golf tee comprising a hollow peg member,

a cupped member pivoted to the top of the peg,-

a spring pressed plunger slidably mounted in said peg, the upper end of said plunger contacting the lower end of the cupped member and normally retaining said cupped member in alignment with the peg. Y

2. A golf tee comprising a hollow peg member, a cupped member pivoted to the top of the peg member, said cupped member having its lower end below the pivot provided with a depression or concave portion, a spring pressed plunger slidably mounted in said peg member, the upper end of said plunger being rounded or convexed and tting in the concave portion of the cupped member, said plunger normally retaining said cupped member in alignment with the peg.

4. A golf tee comprising a hollow peg member,

a cupped member pivoted to the top of the peg,

a spring pressed plunger slidably mounted in said peg, the upper end of said plunger contacting vthe lower end of the cupped member and normally retaining said cupped member in alignment with the peg, said cupped member being of generally conical-shape, tapering inwardly from the cup to approximately the size of the top of the peg at the bottom of the cup member, and a cushion surrounding said cup member.

JOHN A. HAMMOND. FRED KORTE. 

